Sixteen of Chile's 33 trapped miners were hoisted to safety in a capsule barely wider than a man's shoulders on Wednesday, cheering, punching the air and hugging their families as they emerged after two months deep underground.
Among those cheering at the gold and copper mine in Chile's northern Atacama desert was Hao Heng, a service manager from SANY Chile Subsidiary, who was in charge of hoisting work in the rescue operation.
Since his arrival at the site on Oct 6, the Chinese engineer had been sending back diaries to China, along with pictures, about how he and his colleagues were ready to be of assistance.
"As a supporting technician from SANY, I am quite nervous right now. Our crawler crane has been reserved as a backup facility, in case the current winch failed to perform," Hao wrote in his latest notes dated 2:52 pm on Wednesday, Beijing time.
By then, five miners had reached the ground after being trapped for 69 days.
The mine collapsed on Aug 5, leaving 33 miners nearly 700 meters underground.
After the collapse the miners reached a shelter where oxygen, water and food had been stored.
Their ordeal, in the humid bowels of the Earth, set a survival record for miners but they remained in good physical and mental condition.
Three rescue plans were worked out to see which could reach the miners first. On Monday Chile's Mining Minister Laurence Golborne confirmed that drill T-130, also known as Plan B, had the best chance of success of reaching the miners and pulling them to the surface in a missile-like capsule.
As the rescue operation began, Hao and his red crawler crane were standing by on Wednesday. "We're prepared and on full alert," he said.
At the scene, rescuers, relatives and friends broke into cheers as the miners emerged, one by one. Florencio Avalos, a father of two, was the first to surface and breathe fresh air for the first time in 69 days.
Rescuers expect to bring the remaining men to safety over the next two days.
After weeks of drilling a narrow shaft down to the miners and preparing the special capsule, the final stage began when a rescuer descended into the shaft on Tuesday night. He was hugged by the waiting miners when he reached their shelter, and he then took just minutes to buckle Avalos into the capsule and send him to the surface.
The capsule's specially made steel cage is equipped with oxygen masks and escape hatches in case it gets stuck.
Engineers said the final stage of the rescue still has its risks but the capsule was handling well in the shaft, and they expected a smooth extraction.
Each man's journey to safety should take about 15 minutes. The capsule travels at about 1 meter per second, or a casual walking pace.
Zhou Fugui, vice-president of SANY Heavy Industry Co Ltd and chairman of Shanghai SANY Science and Technology Co Ltd, said the company's crawler crane was chosen by the Chilean government on Oct 3.
"The crawler crane is now the biggest machine on the rescue site. We sent it over, disassembled, by six trucks.
"In order to ensure the success of the rescue, we sent three engineers from Brazil. We also sent over two engineers and our general manager for overseas project from China, bringing our total members of staff on site to seven," he added.
Chen Fengying, head of the World Economy Institute at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said this showed China is resolute in fulfilling its international responsibilities. "It is in accordance with China's grand scenario for a harmonious world," said Chen.
Humberto Molina, charg d' affaires at the Chilean embassy in Beijing, expressed his gratitude to the international community for their support. "We have received lots of support for the rescue both from home and abroad," Molina said.
"It has been a very difficult year for Chile," he said. "We've had the worst earthquake this year and other major natural disasters. Now we really need some wonderful news such as the success of the miners' rescue. We are very happy about this good news."
